Moderated
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Evaluation 3: What Have We Heard From Our Audience Feedback?
After we had finished our music video of Lana Del Ray's 'Video Games' we were happy with the finished product but we needed to see if other people in our target audience age range were happy too. To find out this information we invented a questionnaire that asked various questions about themselves and then their overall opinion on our music video. We asked 39 people of different age groups...
Overall we were very pleased on our feedback gained from the questionnaire.
After this we then felt we needed to find out more about our music video. We decided to target our target audience and invent a new questionnaire with just a few questions for them. The people we asked were in the age range of 15 - 25.
We asked...
Did the story line fit the song?
YES NO
Should there be more characters?
YES NO
Was it entertaining?
YES NO
The results were as follows...
Again, we were very pleased with the results of the questionnaire and confirmed our original thoughts. This we found very complementing but we still thought we should use contemporary media methods in receiving some more feedback. Below is an example of how we advertised our music video on Twitter.
What we have learnt
From recording and editing a music video, we have learnt a lot of things. One being how to edit rapidly which we did not know how to do before we started this project. That could be really useful in the future for university etc.
We have also learnt how to transfer lip syncing into a music video so it looks like the person is singing instead of lip syncing. We managed this well and is also something we can take with us.
Another thing is how much research you have to do before even starting a music video, you have to know about all the history, what the lyrics mean, what sort of institution you'd use, influences and inspirations etc. This is a big lesson learned for anything we choose to do in the future. It is not as simple as it sounds!
Overall we were very pleased on our feedback gained from the questionnaire.
95% of the people we asked said that they would recommend our music video to friends and family, their reasoning for this was because they much preferred the effects on our music video and didn't music like Lana's as it was recorded from her web cam and therefore was not of good quality.
After this we then felt we needed to find out more about our music video. We decided to target our target audience and invent a new questionnaire with just a few questions for them. The people we asked were in the age range of 15 - 25.
We asked...
Did the story line fit the song?
YES NO
Should there be more characters?
YES NO
Was it entertaining?
YES NO
The results were as follows...
Then on Facebook.
From posting our music video on social networking sites, we gain a lot of positive feedback from people whom we are friends with.
"This looks so good girls, well done!!!"
Positive Feedback
- People said that they really enjoyed the narrative to the music video. They enjoyed the black and white shots that highlighted a flashback of a couple and then one of the end shots of the boy walking away really fitted the storyline well.
- A lot of people enjoyed the extreme close-ups of Sophie's lips with the red lipstick, they felt that is was original and the choice of colour fitted in well with the retro theme.
- The theme of retro was a big hit as people felt it fitted in well with the genre of the song and displayed a sense of individuality.
- The change in locations was enjoyed by many people as they felt that it kept them watching and it did not get boring.
- Students that watched the video enjoyed the editing effects. They appreciated how long it takes to get something like that right, and we did it.
Negative Feedback
Although most feedback was positive, there were a few negative points.
- Some people felt that some of the footage was a little shakey. - we explained that this was purposely done for a handheld effect so the video felt more realistic than fake.
- Others felt that there could have been more than two characters.
From recording and editing a music video, we have learnt a lot of things. One being how to edit rapidly which we did not know how to do before we started this project. That could be really useful in the future for university etc.
We have also learnt how to transfer lip syncing into a music video so it looks like the person is singing instead of lip syncing. We managed this well and is also something we can take with us.
Another thing is how much research you have to do before even starting a music video, you have to know about all the history, what the lyrics mean, what sort of institution you'd use, influences and inspirations etc. This is a big lesson learned for anything we choose to do in the future. It is not as simple as it sounds!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Evaluation 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
1) The title of the music video;
is called video games which was chosen by the artist Lana Del Rey as her boyfriend told her that their relationship is like a 'video game'. We didn't want to change the title because it is obviously something personal to the artist so we wanted to keep it so we could perhaps understand the song better. Furthermore, video games is repeated within the song so it only made sense to us to stick with the song title.
2) Props and Costumes;
Because the song has a romantic and gentle feel to it we wanted to reflect that with a retro style to the costume. We used red lipstick which we used as colour coding for passion and love and we also used dresses to keep with a girly theme. The other costumes such as the black high waisted leggings and circular sunglasses show a more modern take on the vintage style. The look the we chose was supported by many of our peers as they also thought, like us, that that look was perfect for this type of genre of song. We did play up to the conventions of a romantic song by using girly and pretty costumes and beautiful make-up and hair.
3) Settings and Locations;
We used mainly locations that were outdoors which do stick to the conventions of a song such as the one that we have chosen. The outdoors provide us with nature which throughout time through music video, novels, poems etc is the one location were you set a romantic theme. We decided to film nearly all of our footage outside as it provided us with brilliant natural lightening and nature such as birds that we have used in our footage. In real media products, the outdoors is used for the same genre as ours so we wanted to do the same to make our music video appear to be a real media product as the audience will have some idea of what to expect.
4) Camera Work and Editing;
For our music video, camera work and editing are the most important aspect because we couldn't achieve our goal for our music video without editing or our desired camera work. We all have an advantage as we have editing and all used a camera from our previous Thrillers. We all watched several music videos including Lana Del Rey's actual music video for the song we have chosen 'Video Games' this allowed us to see what type of editing and camera work artists/directors use for our genre. This enabled us to see whether we should stick to the conventions or challenge them. One editing effect that is really in our genre of music video's is the 'earthquake' effect. That effect is 'edgey' which could broaden our target audience. However, we did use slow motion effects which are commonly used in the romantic genre. In terms of camera work, we used the conventional mid shot, close up shot which allows the audience to identify who the artist is.
.JPG)
5) Font & Style; For our media poster we used a traditional font that was big but allowed the viewer to see the artist behind. The style was different to our genre because usually the font would be for example Edwardian script but we wanted to challenge the conventions by doing something a little different. This again allows us to broaden our target audience.
6) Tone of the start of the music video and the story. Do they fit? The start of our music video is of a church with two birds flying across the screen, we chose to do this because in the song at the start there is church bells so we wanted to make the music video more believable to the audience that it is the real music video. The second shot is of the actress, this allows the audience to identify that this is the artist. These shots create a peaceful and romantic atmosphere which is what we wanted our music video to be about. The story is about Sophie (the actress) singing a song for her boyfriend and declaring her love for him. We did use more of Sophie than the boy Jake (actor) because we felt it made it more personal and as if the music video is directly for Jake.
7) The genre and how opening suggests it. The opening scene is of Sophie outside and with the sun and the church, this is conventional to our genre which enables the audience to identify it. We dressed Sophie is pretty retro clothes and she had red lipstick on which is colour coding for romance. The costume in the opening played a huge part in helping us put across to the audience the genre of our music video.
is called video games which was chosen by the artist Lana Del Rey as her boyfriend told her that their relationship is like a 'video game'. We didn't want to change the title because it is obviously something personal to the artist so we wanted to keep it so we could perhaps understand the song better. Furthermore, video games is repeated within the song so it only made sense to us to stick with the song title.
2) Props and Costumes;
Because the song has a romantic and gentle feel to it we wanted to reflect that with a retro style to the costume. We used red lipstick which we used as colour coding for passion and love and we also used dresses to keep with a girly theme. The other costumes such as the black high waisted leggings and circular sunglasses show a more modern take on the vintage style. The look the we chose was supported by many of our peers as they also thought, like us, that that look was perfect for this type of genre of song. We did play up to the conventions of a romantic song by using girly and pretty costumes and beautiful make-up and hair.
3) Settings and Locations;
We used mainly locations that were outdoors which do stick to the conventions of a song such as the one that we have chosen. The outdoors provide us with nature which throughout time through music video, novels, poems etc is the one location were you set a romantic theme. We decided to film nearly all of our footage outside as it provided us with brilliant natural lightening and nature such as birds that we have used in our footage. In real media products, the outdoors is used for the same genre as ours so we wanted to do the same to make our music video appear to be a real media product as the audience will have some idea of what to expect.
4) Camera Work and Editing;
For our music video, camera work and editing are the most important aspect because we couldn't achieve our goal for our music video without editing or our desired camera work. We all have an advantage as we have editing and all used a camera from our previous Thrillers. We all watched several music videos including Lana Del Rey's actual music video for the song we have chosen 'Video Games' this allowed us to see what type of editing and camera work artists/directors use for our genre. This enabled us to see whether we should stick to the conventions or challenge them. One editing effect that is really in our genre of music video's is the 'earthquake' effect. That effect is 'edgey' which could broaden our target audience. However, we did use slow motion effects which are commonly used in the romantic genre. In terms of camera work, we used the conventional mid shot, close up shot which allows the audience to identify who the artist is.
.JPG)
5) Font & Style; For our media poster we used a traditional font that was big but allowed the viewer to see the artist behind. The style was different to our genre because usually the font would be for example Edwardian script but we wanted to challenge the conventions by doing something a little different. This again allows us to broaden our target audience.
6) Tone of the start of the music video and the story. Do they fit? The start of our music video is of a church with two birds flying across the screen, we chose to do this because in the song at the start there is church bells so we wanted to make the music video more believable to the audience that it is the real music video. The second shot is of the actress, this allows the audience to identify that this is the artist. These shots create a peaceful and romantic atmosphere which is what we wanted our music video to be about. The story is about Sophie (the actress) singing a song for her boyfriend and declaring her love for him. We did use more of Sophie than the boy Jake (actor) because we felt it made it more personal and as if the music video is directly for Jake.
7) The genre and how opening suggests it. The opening scene is of Sophie outside and with the sun and the church, this is conventional to our genre which enables the audience to identify it. We dressed Sophie is pretty retro clothes and she had red lipstick on which is colour coding for romance. The costume in the opening played a huge part in helping us put across to the audience the genre of our music video.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Editing Diary
When editing our music video, I decided that as the song is a slow-paced love song an effective technique would be to slow down a lot of the footage. This actually worked in our favour as it meant we didn't have to do lots of rapid editing which can be extremely difficult and time-consuming. The parts I slowed down were all included in the black and white 'flashback' shots. The reason I used this technique is because the singer is clearly in love with someone and wants to remember everything about the other person. Slowing the footage down gives the impression that she maybe wanted those moments to last.
I edited the exposure and colour on the non-flashback shots so they would fit in with the retro theme of the video. I did this by slightly increasing the amount of red in the shots and slightly decreasing the amount of blue. The result of this was a slightly yellow tint which was the look I wanted to achieve.
At the start of the song I wanted to use a different image for each note of the piano. I used establishing shots and then lingered on a shot of the boy in the denim jacket, letting the audience know subconsciously that he is an important character in the 'story'.
I wanted there to be a balance of 'flashback' and lip-sync footage so the audience would be less likely to get bored. I think i achieved this and also used a good variety of lip-syncing shots. For one transition I used a close-up lip-sync shot of my face which I linked with a mid-shot of me lip-syncing in a field using an extreme closeup of my lips. The reason this transition worked so well is because in all the shots I am wearing red lipstick which creates familiarity nd theefore a more smooth transition.
For some of the song I wanted to take the lyrics literally. For example, for the lyric 'open up a beer' I used an extreme close up of the cap of a beer bottle and for 'play a video game' I used a shot of the start of a game of pac man. This techique helps tie the video to the song.
There is one extremely important shot where the lyrics are 'heaven is a place on earth with you'. In the shot the two characters are lying on a bed and laughing, looking more like best friends than a couple. This is an effetive shot because it suggests how in love the main character is.
I used quite a lot of shots of just the boy as if we are looking at him through the main character's eyes and seeing him how she sees him.
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